Venezuelan / Russian tanker and Scotland

Posted: 13th January 2026

The following articles are well worth looking at (especially the first
one) and show that Scotland’s role in the recent capture of the Venezuelan / Russian oil tanker in the Atlantic was far greater than has generally been acknowledged.

https://theaviationist.com/2026/01/11/tanker-seizure-updates
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62nqjj29jgo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c98j1l01p96o.amp

Clearly Scotland’s geography was an important factor in the operation, and the use of bases in Scotland has implications for independence and any relationship a future independent Scotland would have with NATO.

Although there is much that we don’t know, it also appears that there appears also to have been some risk of a US – Russian confrontation on the seas with naval assets of both states allegedly on the scene.